Thread: The Mystery of "Gary Forbes."
In October 2015, the NYT wrote about how Trump came to dominate Twitter, with one section describing how "hundreds of thousands of strangers defend him."
But it was the section about "Gary Forbes" that I found most curious of all.
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In October 2015, the NYT wrote about how Trump came to dominate Twitter, with one section describing how "hundreds of thousands of strangers defend him."
But it was the section about "Gary Forbes" that I found most curious of all.
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It was not just the coordinated activity which I found notable. It was also the careful language they used regarding "Gary Forbes."
"A man identifying himself as Gary Forbes" sounds like a very careful way to say that they weren't able to independently verify his identity.
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"A man identifying himself as Gary Forbes" sounds like a very careful way to say that they weren't able to independently verify his identity.
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Further, "Gary Forbes" referred the NYT to the Trump campaign and Hope Hicks said "Forbes" was not affiliated with the campaign. So, someone was being misleading there.
The biggest reason that this "Gary Forbes" caught my eye is because I had previously come across a
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The biggest reason that this "Gary Forbes" caught my eye is because I had previously come across a
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"Gary Forbes" Twitter acct (@gqforbes) that was promoted by the Internet Research Agency from July 2015 until that acct was suspended in 2016. Following that suspension, "Gary Forbes" came back as @gqforbes4. The IRA trolls promoted that acct as well.
In fact, they promoted
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In fact, they promoted
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@gqforbes up through 6-27-2016 and then began promoting @gqforbes4 on 6-28-2016.
The bio might make one think there is some sort of affiliation with the Forbes family. But Googling "Gary Forbes" doesn't suggest it. & Googling "The Forbes Group" returns results for a business
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The bio might make one think there is some sort of affiliation with the Forbes family. But Googling "Gary Forbes" doesn't suggest it. & Googling "The Forbes Group" returns results for a business
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whose CEO in February 2016 was Amy L. Sarno.
This bio does not seem to check out.
In consideration of what the NYT wrote about "Gary Forbes", I think the four mentions of @gqforbes by Trump are quite illuminating. (See tweet 7)
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This bio does not seem to check out.
In consideration of what the NYT wrote about "Gary Forbes", I think the four mentions of @gqforbes by Trump are quite illuminating. (See tweet 7)
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Trump was seeing massive growth in the summer of 2015 and @gqforbes was documenting it. And both gqforbes accts were promoted by the IRA before they were suspended.
Notably, Trump also promoted @Kids123Nicholas which was later suspended & was also promoted by an IRA troll. /fin
Notably, Trump also promoted @Kids123Nicholas which was later suspended & was also promoted by an IRA troll. /fin
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